People’s Grocery finally opening a grocery store in West Oakland

Ten years after it got its start, the West Oakland nonprofit People’s Grocery is finally opening a brick-and-mortar grocery store. Called People’s Community Market, which is a separate for-profit venture, it’s due to open in fall or winter 2013, and the community is invited to be part of its new DPO, or direct public offering, with a series of events starting next week. With a loan already promised for two-thirds of its budget, People’s Community Market needs to raise the last one-third, or $1.2 million, to open.

When People’s Grocery was founded in 2002, the plan was to bring a full-service grocery store to the underserved neighborhood of West Oakland. Yet co-founder Brahm Ahmadi says he and his team, even after traveling around the country to research various business strategies, decided that they didn’t have the expertise or capital to successfully run a retail grocery business at the time.

In the decade since, People’s Grocery launched several other food-related projects, such as its Mobile Market, a truck that drove around the neighborhood selling fresh foods, an urban farm, a CSA (farm share) program and nutrition, health and job training programs.

Yet, “we kept getting feedback from the community that the projects were great but far from adequate,” says Ahmadi.

So a few years ago, he stepped down as executive director of the nonprofit, got an MBA and spent nine months on a business plan to finally open a grocery store. But when it came time to raise capital, they couldn’t attract large investors because the profit margins for a grocery store are so small.

That’s where the idea for the DPO came about, and with it a series of events in the coming months to bring in community investors. The first, next Thursday in Oakland, is already booked (though it has a waiting list, where you can sign up to be notified of future events), and features speakers like cookbook author and TV chef Bryant Terry and Sam Mogannan of Bi-Rite Market. Minimum investments are $1,000 and must come from California residents.